The present invention relates to a device by which envelopes and labels may be marked in order to facilitate mechanical sorting by the postal service. More specifically, it deals with an economical, hand held device by which zip codes or the like may be printed onto articles of mail, in the location on each article and in the code stipulated by the U.S. Post Office for sorting of the mail by mechanical devices.
The U.S. Postal Service will handle bar coded mail significantly faster and less expensively than that which is not provided with bar coding. For instance, at the present time, a first class letter weighing an ounce or less is processed at a cost of 25 cents when bar coded. By comparing this with a cost of 29 cents for the same letter without bar coding, and with the sometimes more important fact that delivery of the uncoded letter in the U.S. typically takes 7-10 days, one can appreciate the need for an inexpensive device that the individual and small business can use to obtain timely delivery of their while minimizing costs.
Businesses with large volume mailings typically provide a room or other area dedicated to mail handling with one or more machines which can feed, weigh, stamp, and print bar coding on their mail. Needless to say, the size and expense of these types of machines are not space or cost effective for the low volume mailer such as the small business or individual. What is needed for such low volume mailers is a small, preferably hand held, device by which the user can manually enter the zip code to be printed on the envelope or label, visually check the entered data and correct the entry when needed, and actuate printing of the corresponding bar code onto the article of mail in the appropriate location and manner.
Thus, it is an object of the invention to provide an economical, hand held printer which is particularly suitable for use in meeting the needs of the small business and/or individual as described above. Other objects of the invention will become apparent to the reader from the remainder of the written disclosure and drawings.